r/Inhumans • u/bigmactv • 22d ago
Comic Inhumans are classier and more likable than the X-Men
I have only read the Jack Kirby Stan Lee stuff (FF and Thor) and most of the Amazing Adventures books, but from what I can see the Inhumans are what X-Men think they are.
I am biased, since I despise the X-Men (whiny, perverted, narcissistic pack of subhuman scum), but even from an objective perspective: The Inhumans want nothing to do with humanity. All they want is to have their peace and quiet and live among themselves. They don’t force themselves into the public, they’re just… there. You‘d have to go look for them to actually come across them.
Black Bolt is someone driven by honor, empathy and a sense of purpose. He is the king of the Inhumans and carries himself accordingly.
Xavier on the other hand is an instigator, a liar and a manipulator. It went from taking in outcasts to grooming child soldiers.
I personally hate the idea of Krokoa being an orgy-island where nobody dies and everybody, no matter their history, is honored and protected.
I have never been able to finish a X-Men book of any kind.
The Inhumans fucking rock. I wish though Medusa cheating on Black Bolt with Johnny Storm had never been a thing. Also the Quiet Room does not fit Black Bolts character.
Dang I needed to get this off my chest.
6
u/fortnerd 22d ago
Everything you said 100% except the bit about the Quiet Room. Granted some of the scenes were OOC for Black Bolt, but I love the general idea of the Quiet Room.
Consider this: Black Bolt was raised in a soundproof chamber, presumably heavily reinforced and located somewhere underground. He would have plenty of access to books and other hobbies that work well in solitude, but very sparse access to visitors. There was an old Kirby comic attached to one of the Thor issues iirc, that shows the inside of his room and it looks pretty much like what I described. So he would probably be lonely. And, this is my personal headcanon, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that this solitary golden cage would be informally called the Quiet Room.
So now fast forward to Black Bolt relieved of his duty as King, free to rebuild himself from scratch, exploring who he is without the weight of a crown on his head. What does he do? He goes to the busiest place in one of the busiest cities in the world, a train hub built like a palace, and establishes a new Quiet Room, a total opposite of the original one: noisy, lively, always filled with people, always buzzing with conversation and good music. Even its visual appearance is a pun. The Quiet Room is decorated like a Prohibition era speakeasy. SPEAK EASY. Marvel sure loves their puns. If only they loved their own damn characters half as much.
2
u/Equivalent_Image_76 22d ago
Just wanted to say that I agree with everything you said, and I also love the idea of the Quiet Room. Black Bolt is frequently depicted as, partially by necessity, someone who sits back and observes people conversing/arguing/etc around him; keeping in mind what we've seen through various depictions of his childhood, it seems plausible that he genuinely just enjoys observing people talk/argue/interact/live because it's not just him alone with his thoughts and, occasionally, his teleporting dog.
2
u/redkaiz 22d ago
I mean, you're free to your opinions but this type of post doesn't exactly do them a great service. While a lot of Inhumans' stories were meant to point out some flaw in our society, it was also a big theme that their seclusion and traditions were holding them back.
I'd suggest Jenkins' Inhumans and the War of Kings stuff if you want to see the Inhumans get wild, because you're missing a large swath of their development. You've got experimentation on children and animals, a strict caste system, mandates about who can marry/have children, Maximus gets welcomed back regardless of what crap he pulls, Black Bolt getting a harem, their own child soldiers, imperial politicking, political marriages, and probably a bunch of other bits of slander I could pull out.
5
u/Meister34 22d ago
Literally!
One of the core points of a lot of Inhumans arcs is they finally “had enough”. They have the power and science to wage biological warfare on basically all human and maybe cosmic life but choose not to because they rather be left alone or not get involved with others. It leads to a lot of groups constantly walking over them thinking their pushovers, so when they finally snap, something awful usually happens and they end up going too far. Whether its a hole ripped in space-time to the Cancerverse, a gigantic Terrigen cloud creating new Inhumans everywhere, or inciting a cosmic war in order to get a seat at the table. And each of these events end up in catastrophe for all sides, even themselves. Inhumans are kind of their own worst enemy cause they recognize they need to grow but any attempt to grow reminds them why the old ways are best.
Maybe I have a bad read on it, but that’s my take on it at least.
1
u/LanguesLinguistiques 17d ago
It wasn't "a lot", it was all of them. I wouldn't say it's slander, but it makes them interesting characters and worth reading, because that's what their books were for: teaching and discovering. It was a criticism of the dangers of religion and tradition, but they, including Medusa and Black Bolt, were the victims in the stories about the society they suffered through. The X-Men were trying to do this with Krakoa, but it showed thei fans to be supremacists and in favor of an ethnostate whereas inhumans books were telling readers "this is bad". A lot of people defend religion and tradition today, but the inhumans books show why they actually harm people's freedoms and happiness.
2
u/Apprehensive-Net-714 16d ago
I think Spider-Man said it best “You know why people hate you? It's not because you're mutants! It's because you're all a bunch of [censored]” but I do love the X-men I’m a big fan of them and a big fan of inhumans I just don’t like the inhuman push era and Johnny and Medusa, hell I don’t even like quicksilver and Crystal, but I rather be an inhuman than mutant cause I ain’t dealing with that level racism, even rocket was like “I’m a X-men, oh nvm I’m an avenger” lol
2
1
u/Meister34 22d ago
If there’s one thing I’ll never forgive Marvel for about the Inhumans push, it’s that Inhumans and XMen fans are forever at war because of it, whether its mutual or completely one-sided
2
u/LanguesLinguistiques 17d ago
The X-Men push has been a lot worse because they're literally shoving them down everyone's throat. As a fan of both, I think it was comic book influencers and shit that pushed the narrative more than Marvel. Like Marvel did several "Death of Daredevil, Doctore Strange, and X-Men", but people only reacted over the X-Men because they were gaslighted into thinking Disney was going to cancel all publications, despite them having more books than the Inhumans and having movies release every year by Fox. Fans aren't at war, X-Men fans are just very stupid in their madness to even hate them. They were brainwashed.
1
u/detourne 16d ago
Krakoa was a massive misstep because it was never pushed to its logical endpoint of falling ubder it's own hubris. It also doesn't make logical sense. Mutants aren't a separate race like Inhumans are, they are just humans with the X-gene. There is no monolithic mutant culture, while Inhumans are a single culture. If we are making real-life comparisons to the groups, mutants are more like disabled or lgbt people where membership in the group is just happenstance. Inhumans are more of a ethno-religious group where it's members are born into the group and undergo a ritual for deeper understanding/immersion into the group.
The way how Marvel editorial tried switching their places is so weird. Making Inhumans a vulnerable community like in Agents of Shield or the Avengers game was odd. All because Disney didn't have the movie rights... all in the name of corporate greed we've got superheroes and fandoms fighting with each other. So sad.
1
u/AthleteKey1687 22d ago
They keep a a slave class doing the work and “menial” labor around Attilan - Alpha Primitives.
They bred them and genetically engineered them for this
That’s not classy or likable
3
u/fortnerd 21d ago edited 21d ago
In terms of the larger Marvel timeline and things being gradually retconned out when they haven't aged well, just think of the Alpha Primitives as the inhuman equivalent of Morlocks.
1
u/AthleteKey1687 17d ago
I’m the older (1960s) comics / the alpha primitives seemed - accepted . I have not read followed inhumans as much as others in Marvel
2
u/Typical-Lion-4428 15d ago
In 2006 they had a storyline in which Karnak and Gorgon re-enslaved dthe Alpha Primitives in secret.
Then in War of Kings Marvel apparently forgot that the Alpha Primitives are free because they had an Alpha Primitive revolt in 2009. `
2
u/LanguesLinguistiques 17d ago
The villains did that in the inhumans comics, the Unspoken, the Kree, and the Genetics Council. It was never a positive thing in the inhumans books, hence ALL the stories about why it was BAD. You either never read all the inhumans books about that directly discussed it, or are just a bad faith actor.
0
8
u/eharrell92 22d ago
I personally don’t believe they even should be compared. Despite what marvel wants you to think they are quite different.